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Parallels 3.0 gaming

C

chex

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 17, 2007
222
0
Parallels now has 3D support

If anyone has it can they comment on how games run/if they run at all.

thanks
 
Insidemacgames has a story on it now.

I wil be testing (eh.. playing.. :D ) with the following this weekend:

Parallels 3.0 and VMware Fusion Beta 4 on a MBP Core Duo 2 GHz, 2 GB RAM, 256 MB VRAM X1600

IIRC VMware Fusion only has DirectX 8.1 support, but we'll see.

I hope this thread will get to be the "post your 3D Windows gaming in a Virtual Machine experiences" collection!

We need iMac and Mac Pro testers!!!
 
I think this is a good spot for this thread, and that Quake thread isn't too useful.

I need to make a new VM with a lot more HD space so I can try my games.

like

-Lego StarWars II
-EA sports games
-Prey

and others.

I will post here when I find the time to sit through another God D**n windows install...

Or, is there a way to drastically increase the HD space of a currently installed VM???
 
on my macbook with 2gigs of memory, i've tried out...

system shock 2, total annihlation, master of orion 2 so far, all of which exibit some odd problems, like reverting to 16 colour, and becoming completly unresponsive...

i've tried half-life via steam, and its worked flawlessly.

i'm working up through my older games >_>
 
Tried Half Life 2, F.E.A.R. & America's Army. The first two don't work at all, AA launches but the frame rate is so low it is unplayable (2-3 fps) Mac Pro 2.66GHz with Radeon x1900
 
So far, gaming in Parallels is always a big guessing game whether or not the game will work. Half Life 2 runs, although the FPS could definitely improve. Battlefield 2 does not run for me, and I'm working on testing FFXI and The Sims 2.

tominated said:
when i get parallels (if i save up enough for it and an oem copy of vista) i try trackmania sunsrise, united and nations
Click to expand...

If you go for Vista, don't forget you need Ultimate or Enterprise, as licensing prevents you from using Home Basic or Premium.
 
Veritas&Equitas said:
Really? That is pretty discouraging...considering how old the game is. I was thinking to install a few games on my MBP, but based on these terrible reports, I think I might have to skip it.
Click to expand...

I struggled with hl2 (which is the first game I've installed). What you need to do to get it and any other games working is tick the "enable directx" option in the VM Configuration, which will allow one to play games. I would also suggest pushing the memory up to 1GB. HL2 runs ok, then suddenly slows down once you're outside, but I think if you have bootcamp you can probably boost the speed a touch (meaning you can run parallels off the bootcamp partition).
 
Check out their own forums...

I'm afraid 3D support means theoretical support, i.e. the 3D engines can access the 3D grfx card directly, but forget about performance ATM. :(

I just hope that either Fusion or Parallels will once get the performance as was expected.
 
MacsRgr8 said:
I don't expect anything more than what we already have: Boot Camp.
Click to expand...

I never expect anything from Apple. But we've been told there are some 'secret features' of Leopard to be revealed, so it's not beyond contemplation. Plus Parallels seems like it was rushed out before the WWDC, so maybe they knew something and wanted to make as much money ASAP?
 
I seem to recall Apple stating that they would not enter the virtualization world.
Not sure if this is a promise, but as you can read here, it seems to be one...
OTOH.... you never know with Apple. (Video iPods...?)
 
Well, I put Eve-Online onto my Parallels 3.0 Windows XP install. the game RUNS, but the mouse dissappears in certain area's of the login screen and there isn't any way to select feilds.... I was unable to go further from there... Anyone else able to make it work?

I am going to finish up my guild wars install tonight after work and try that as well.....

Quake 1 works fine though....
 
Computer specs:

Mac Pro 2 x 2GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon
2 GB RAM
ATI Radeon X1900 512MB
20" Widescreen Dell monitors

Windows XP Pro

Half Life - Runs at a constant 70 FPS with max graphics in OpenGL mode at 1680x1050. I think that's the max for the game.

Half Life 2 - Runs but is slower than a Powerpoint slideshow.

Freecell - Runs. I only added this because some people in the Parallels forums said it wasn't.

I don't really have a lot of Windows games anymore except MMO's and I'm not going to start one of those up.
 
Tnx, SilentPanda

But, again.... not very good news.
Half Life was a game I played on my P3 with Voodoo 3 card IIRC.

Half Life 2 would be the yard stick. DirectX 9, and ran perfeclty on a grfx card like the X800 XT. Having a Xeon with the X1900 XT, I would have expected better results than the "slide show of death" :D .
 
Tomb Raider Anniversary: totally unplayable, too low FPS
NeverWinter Nights 2: won't start up, incompatible hardware
Tomb Raider 2 : works flawlessly but you won't get any music only short sounds.
Max Payne 2: FPS is very good but the walls always result white a part from when you r shooting. Quite funny given that it is listed among the already supported games
 
Anything that uses ActiveMark copy protection appears to not work. Gives a message about a debugger running.

When I put all the video down in Half Life 2 it ran but it looked like CGA colors. I *think* for some reason it was using software to render the graphics instead of hardware. I have DirectX enabled in the Parallels configuration but on the video area of Half Life 2 it said "Hardware DirectX 8.1" and "Software DirectX 9.0". Hardware appeared to be greyed out. I have the newest DirectX installed. Ah well.
 
Steve1496 said:
If you go for Vista, don't forget you need Ultimate or Enterprise, as licensing prevents you from using Home Basic or Premium.
Click to expand...

I, for one, am not convinced this is strictly true. I am not a lawyer either, though!

Looking at the EULA for Home editions, it states that "You may not use the software installed on the licensed device within a virtual (or otherwise emulated) hardware system."

So pop into PC World/elsewhere, buy a retail copy of Home Basic. At this point there is no licensed device yet. Installation can proceed (in my untrained opinion).

The EULA specifically prevents you using the license key associated with your OEM installed desktop/laptop within a virtual machine as well. This is perfectly sensible as you'd essentially then have two installations having paid one OEM license.

Spot the difference with Business and Ultimate editions, where the same license key can be used on the OEM hardware, and in a single virtual machine who's image is on that same device.

I've searched for explicit explanations from Microsoft and found nothing specifically targetting this precise scenario. It would be expected that Microsoft would not wish make public that this scenario is explicitly allowed, hence why I can't find further commentary from Parallels on this either I suspect.

If you can post links to authoritative statements from Microsoft I'd like to read them.
 
quigleybc said:
Just Curious, what is steam? is it a separate install app?
Click to expand...

Steam is a digital content delivery system that was born alongside Half Life 2 and made by the same guys. Originally it was used for Valve games but it's fast becoming a great publishing platform.
Originally everyone hated it. Slowed down the process of just jumping into a game. But it sounds like it's grown on people. It's been great watching it evolve over the past few years.

yes.

BUT! The news that HL2 runs well has me very excited. Infact the progress with all these "Windows on Mac" solutions has me excited. How much better can it possibly get? :D
 
The best part is that it only gets better. Pretty soon, the virtual solution will be just as good as the original (or as good as windows gets). Right now, Parallels is a much better option for me, and I am very pleased that 3D is finally supported.

What will happen in the next official release :eek:
 
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